The Towering Legacy of the USS Enterprise

As America's first and greatest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier approaches retirement, we recount the highlights of its half-century at sea.

As America's first and greatest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier approaches retirement, we recount the highlights of its half-century at sea.

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The Towering Legacy of the USS Enterprise

The USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear aircraft carrier, is now undergoing deactivation prior to final decommissioning next year. From blockading Cuba during the 1962 Missile Crisis right up to operations against pirates off Somalia in 2011, the ship embodies 50 years of naval technology. Although it was commissioned way back in 1961, regular upgrades mean the Enterprise is still a modern warship.

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Nuclear Power

The U.S. started developing nuclear power plants for ships back in the 1940s, seeing the obvious strategic advantage of an aircraft carrier that needs refuelling only once every few years. Enterprise was the first. While the ship has a somewhat conservative hull, one modified from the conventional Forrestal-class supercarrier, its propulsion was revolutionary.

The Enterprise has eight Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors, each generating 35,000 shaft horsepower. That's an incredible amount of power, even for a ship this size, giving the 93,000-ton carrier a top speed of greater than 33 knots (38 mph). In trials it achieved more than 35 knots. Even today the crew boasts "Eight Reactors, None Faster." Indeed, Enterprise can still outrun her escort ships, including the latest Arleigh Burke–class destroyers.

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Airport at Sea

It's hard to conceive of something so large and fast without experiencing it first-hand. The Big E is more than 1100 feet long, making it the longest warship in the world. Covering more than 4 acres, the flight deck feels more like an airport than a ship. Aircraft carriers are sometimes likened to floating cities, and this one has a population of more than 6000—and its own TV station.

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Enduring Technology

The design was not an immediate success. The total price to build the Enterprise came to $451 million, or about $3.5 billion in today's money. This was deemed too expensive, and as a result Enterprise's five planned sister ships were never built; the Navy opted for more Kitty Hawk–class carriers, as they cost about half as much. Over time, however, the argument for nuclear carriers won out. While the Kitty Hawk class was fully retired by 2009, the Enterprise endured. And all 10 of the Nimitz-class carriers, each of which cost twice as much to build as the Big E did, are nuclear powered and make up the entire current fleet.

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Generations of Aircraft

Enterprise's nuclear heart has remained the same for a half-century. It still uses four steam catapults to hurl twin-engine combat jets into the air at more than 180 mph. But the aircraft based on the vessel have changed greatly over the decades.

The first air wing assigned to the Enterprise was equipped with the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs, capable of flying at Mach 2.2 (1472 mph) and delivering 18,000 pounds of bombs. Fifty years later, the main strength of the current wing lies in its Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, with a top speed of Mach 1.8 (1190 mph) and a bomb load almost the same as the Phantom II.

Don't let the raw numbers deceive you. The new aircraft don't need to post such a gaudy top speed, as they win hands-down in stealth and agility. Weapons technology, too: Smart guided weapons mean a single Super Hornet can accurately deliver more bombs on target than 30 Phantoms.

Enterprise may not be around to see it, but the electronics revolution that bolstered the power of its planes is also about to deliver another twist. The Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System (UCLASS) project could begin to edge out manned aircraft in the years to come (the Navy is already starting to test the X-47B drone on carriers). But even here the technology is not quite as novel as you might think: Back in the 1960s the US Navy was launching Firebee drones from aircraft carriers to carry out reconnaissance over Vietnam.

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Veteran of Many Wars

The USS Enterprise has carried out 22 foreign service deployments, more than any other carrier. Its combat deployments started with six to Vietnam, from 1965 through 1973. In the 1980s the Enterprise was involved in actions against Iranian vessels and offshore platforms. In the 1990s she supported operations in Bosnia. On October 7, 2001, aircraft from the USS Enterprise attacked Taliban in Afghanistan; involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan continued until 2011. And in 2011, the Enterprise's helicopters saw action against pirates off Somalia.

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Cultural Inspiration

As a symbol of cutting-edge technology, the USS Enterprise has proven famously inspirational. The vessel in Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek was called the Yorktown when he pitched the show; before the series aired the name switched to Enterprise. The fictional starship's name was then picked up by the space shuttle Enterprise. The carrier outlasted the shuttle, as well as the TV show and many of its offshoots.

Enterprise is also a movie star. Many Top Gun action sequences were filmed on the carrier, which played itself in the movie. Naval aviation was put firmly on the map, and a generation of young men wanted to be Tom Cruise in aviator sunglasses.

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Too Hot to Exhibit

If any vessel deserves to become a floating museum, it's Enterprise. But shutting down this nuclear reactor on-the-go, affectionately known as "Mobile Chernobyl," will involve taking apart much of the ship's structure. The Navy says it would be too expensive to piece the Enterprise back together. Instead, once deactivation and defueling are complete in 2017, the ship will be towed to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for "dismantlement and recycling." Parts of it will be salvaged for museum display, but the USS Enterprise will officially cease to exist as a ship.

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